EBay Chief Executive John Donahoe received a total payout of about $29.7 million in 2012, according to a filing. This is a pay increase of about 81 percent over the previous year.

His base salary was $970,353, according to a proxy filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission but what made him the serious dosh was his stock awards which accounted for about $23.7 million and options awards total were about $2 million.

This is surprising because it was not EBay's best year. It lagged behind the growth of e-commerce and Amazon.com for several years. But under Donahoe, eBay has spent a lot of cash improving the search capabilities and prodding sellers to provide more services such as free shipping and easier returns.

Of course it is questionable if all that effort was worth $29.7 million as we know a bloke in Bosnia who would probably do the same thing for 600 euro and throw in a free ski trip to Jahorina.